Bob Sacks is an avid Publishing futurist, electrifying the media and marketing industry with the good and bad news about what he calls “El-CID” or Electronically Coordinated Information Distribution. This BLOG will follow the trends of Publishing as it continues to evolve.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Here is a sobering thought. What happens to the newsstand industry when the current trend of celebrity fascination ends? It will happen you know, in media it’s all about trends. Some are long lasting and some are a flash in the pan. The celebrity boom in magazine sales will one day be a celebrity bust, no pun intended.

It seems to be happening right now with the teen magazines. Well these teens are the next group of readers, we hope, of your magazines.

Let’s do a quick review. Newsstand sales have been at best flat for the last 15 years. Those stats include the great successes of the celebrity titles. If you take out the celebrity numbers, the viewing of the resultant graph is much more sobering, if not scary. What do you think?

Celebrity magazines are the sugar coated junk food of our industry, and they are bad for the nation, bad for the readers, and bad for the industry (Holy cow! If this is the leading category in the magazine industry, what does THAT say about our national state of affairs!!! The fact they are the only category that is increasing in newsstand sales says the teenagers are not being given enough to do, and the magazines themselves appeal to said teens only because of the bright and colorful photos and graphics. Don't forget that few of the same customers can read, thanks to spending too much time with celebrity magazines.

30 years ago when I was a teen, I couldn't read enough or see enough photos of David & Shaun Cassidy and the Monkees. It was mindless repetitive drivel that fascinated me for hours on end. It also balanced out a stringent high school reading load. Then I got older, attended Northwestern University on a scholarship, earned an MBA and became a successful corporate marketer -- teen fascination notwithstanding. Maybe the problem is not so much with our future productive adult citizens, as curiosity and fascination about celebs goes back centuries. Perhaps it's the feeding frenzy on the part of publishing management on anything (seeking to destroy celebrity reputations while glorifying heiress blondes who make sex videos)that will make a fast buck, to the exclusion of teen lifestyle or other targeted titles that take a bit more time and effort to make profitable.

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About Me

a veteran of the printing/publishing industry since 1970, Bob Sacks was always an innovator. Even back in the 70s he followed a more creative path than usual. He started his career where some people end -- with the founding of his own weekly newspaper in the metro New York area.
After several years in the alternative press publishing newspapers in New York and Tucson, Az., he went on to become one of the founding fathers of High Times Magazine.
Since then Bob has held positions that include Publisher, Editor, Freelance Writer, Director of Manufacturing and Distribution, Senior Sales Manager, Circulator, Chief of Operations, Pressman, Cameraman, Lecturer, and Developer of web site companies.
Bob’s resume lists directorships at such prestigious companies as McCall's, Time Inc, New York Times Magazine Group, International Paper, Ziff-Davis, CMP, and Bill Communications (VNU).